The 19th Annual Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids invites you to join us at our 19th annual Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala on May 14, 2015, in Washington, DC.

Our gala celebrates the accomplishments of outstanding young people and tobacco control leaders in the United States and worldwide.

We will present the Champion Award, our highest honor, to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in recognition of his unparalleled leadership in the fight against tobacco in New York City, the United States and around the world.

We will also recognize the remarkable accomplishments of youth advocates from throughout the United States. Each year, we honor a national winner, four regional winners and one group winner. Our honorees receive scholarships and program funds to help them continue their work.

The Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala brings together business, philanthropic and government leaders who are committed to winning the fight against tobacco use, the number one cause of preventable death. We hope you will join us in celebrating the enormous progress we have made and committing ourselves to ending this terrible epidemic once and for all.

Awards and Honorees

Images from the 2014 Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala

Champion Award

Michael Bloomberg

Former New York City Mayor

We will present the Champion Award, our highest honor, to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in recognition of his unparalleled leadership in the fight against tobacco in New York City, the United States and around the world.

Under Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership, New York City implemented a comprehensive smoke-free law and other proven strategies to reduce tobacco use. The City achieved unprecedented declines in smoking, driving down smoking rates far faster and to far lower levels than the nation as a whole. New York City’s efforts provided a model for the nation and the world.

In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco use, which promotes proven tobacco control policies in low- and middle-income countries. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a proud partner in this initiative, which is helping to reduce tobacco use and save lives around the world.

Our Youth Advocates of the Year Awards recognize the remarkable accomplishments of young leaders who are working to make the next generation tobacco-free. Each year, we honor a national winner, four regional winners and one group winner. Our honorees receive scholarships and program funds to help them continue their work.

Dmitriy Yanin, Russia2014 Winner of the Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence

When Judy Wilkenfeld died on May 24, 2007, the world lost an incomparable advocate of tobacco control. Judy worked tirelessly to reduce tobacco's toll for more than 20 years, first as a public official and then as a leader of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids international efforts. Among her many accomplishments, Judy played an integral role in the development and adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the emergence of the Framework Convention Alliance.

Her expertise and devotion forever changed the world of tobacco control. But Judy's true impact extends far beyond her professional achievements. Judy was unique in the way she respectfully treated colleagues, and in the way she brought them together. Judy touched favorably upon the lives of all who knew her, and served as a role model to many.

In Judy's honor, the Campaign established the Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence, which is given annually to an advocate from a low- or middle-income country who has worked to significantly reduce tobacco use through policy advocacy and exemplifies the traits for which Judy was known.

The Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence

Youth Advocates of the Year

Image from Bloomberg.org

Become a Sponsor

Images from the 2014 Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala

By sponsoring the Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala, you can support the work of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to end the tobacco epidemic and make the next generation tobacco-free.

Please contact Gabe Pinski at gpinski@tobaccofreekids.org or 202-481-9572 to become a sponsor or to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a leading force in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its deadly toll in the United States and around the world. Our vision: A future free of the death and disease caused by tobacco.

We work to save lives by advocating for public policies that prevent kids from smoking, help smokers quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke.

In the United States, we advocate at the national, state and local levels for the proven policies that reduce tobacco use and save lives.

Internationally, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids supports governments and non-governmental organizations in promoting and implementing these policies. We are a partner in the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which focuses on low- and middle-income countries where more than 80 percent of tobacco-related deaths will occur in the coming decades.

While we have made enormous progress in the United States, tobacco still kills more than 480,000 Americans every year. The worldwide death toll is six million a year and climbing. With your support, we can win the fight against the world’s leading cause of preventable death.

Created in 1996, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that accepts no government or tobacco industry funding. We rely on contributions from individuals, philanthropic foundations, corporations and other non-profit organizations.